Report: Electoral Supervisory Committee Rebuffed by Resignation

Two weeks before Lebanon kicks off its general elections, the electoral supervisory committee tasked with monitoring Lebanon’s May 6 elections, received a “slap in the face” when one of its members resigned citing “limiting the committee's powers,” al-Joumhouria daily reported Saturday.

Head of the Lebanese Handicapped Union, Silvana al-Laqqis, announced her resignation during a press conference on Friday, saying the committee was “restricted from practicing its role as a supervisory body.”

The daily said: “The supervisory board received a slap from its own members through the resignation of Laqqis. Laqqis is the only representative of civil society in the commission.

“She resigned because she refused to be a false witness on the inability of the commission to perform its duties, and in protest at practices stripping the commission of its powers of dealing with serious irregularities committed by electoral lists representing prominent state parties,” said the daily.

The supervisory committee’s jurisdictions were limited to monitoring “irregular” practices made by “small lists,” it added.